Is there any interest if I do a clio 172 cup thread? Will take absolutely no offence if there is no demand - this is a Exige forum after all.
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Why not 
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Get it done!!
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3,304 days ago since I owned a Renault …
3,304 days ago I sold my fantastic glacier white r26.
My passat was starting to get a bit long in the tooth with multiple issues that were going to cost more than the car to fix. Wife Bond wouldnt drive the passat as she said it didnt feel safe but I thought otherwise.
The final nail in the coffin was the very helpful Paul from Diamond-Performance changing over the coolant pump 2 and it making no difference. He spent hours searching for electrical faults but its in the loom somewhere. It just not worth fixing.
I had done extensive DTC deletes from the ECU - but alas. Its dead Jim.
I didnt know , or want to replace it really so I had a look around and settled on a Ph1 Clio 172. Except I couldn’t find any of perceived value. They were either shitboxes are £10k. Absolutely nothing inbetween.
So I purchased a Mondial blue 172 clio cup, blind.
As ever the car I want isnt in the village, or even county near me. Its the other side of the country. 3mi away from Coombe as it happens. I have been on 2 trains , 2 cancelled trains and 6hrs of sitting down patiently watching scenery go by.
The return leg was faster, but not by much as I got used to new noises , vibrations and feedback.
What exactly have I bought?
A Mondial blue 172 clio cup
123k
Positives
Belts and dephaser done 10months ago
Generally pretty sound
Almost standard - just an exhaust and springs
Negatives
One light needs a buff to remove the hazing
slight rust bubble on bonnet
slight lacquer peel on nearside a pillar
Center dash LCD is U/S.
Idle hunts a little ( air leak? )
Driveshaft click when on full lock to the right
Going into 4th quickly when cold results in a shudder. Fine when warm
I have only been on motorways and the odd B road between the seller and my home. The car appears to pick up well , stop well and has average brake feel. Perhaps I have gotten used to the lotus?
I haven’t pressed on really yet. This will be explored.
Few sellers pics attached and couple of mine :
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What’s your plan with it?
It’s very, very blue!
Keep it as standard as possible and enjoy it.
It looks great in person ( I might be biased! )
It does look good.
Cortina in the window behind, might be better though. Sorry!
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Been there for a while by all accounts.
Would look great at SL towers.
Not big, greenish and twin turbo enough!
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Cortina 4 door in lotus colours.
did they make a mk1 lotus cortina 4 door?
thought they only made two door
If correct the 172 is probably worth more!
In my quest for Clio 172 cup perfection ( or just to go broke ) I have decided to start with the lumpy idle.
Not so sure it is lumpy now, Any pointers? Have checked the gaskets at the mating faces where the intake is with a spray of WD40 but no note detected :
Cold
Warmer
Rear End K-Tec stealth
I also noted the radio doesnt seem to do a great deal other than play static. However , someone installed a parrot not of the feathered / flying variety and I put in the default pin and what do you know? It works.
The standard systems is shocking bad , but it works!
Oh and the center radio / time / temperature clock thing doesnt work. I have a spare kindly donated by @Paul B. I am just working out when I have time to remove the screws that hold the dash top in place and refit the dead one.
Great stuff. Loved my two 1*2 cars.
Best thing I did to the last one was put fresh, but original equipment dampers and springs on it. Pennies to sort in the grand scheme, and it became an absolute beast and would tolerate just about any road conditions when pushing on.
Heads to auto trader…
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Brilliant cars. I loved mine until it died (see below). I bought it track-prepped (no rear seats etc, buckets, harnesses, B14 coilovers, rear ARB etc) and loved it so much I not only took it to loads of track days but used it as my runabout too. It reminded me what I liked in a car, which led me to sell the Porsche 964 that was in my garage and to buy my first Lotus. So it wasn’t all bad news.
I particularly enjoyed upsetting my mates with Maclarens on our Spa trip - they thought I was lowering the tone horribly (which I was, tbf). I must have done twice the laps of anyone else in my group on that wet Spa trip though. Absolutely brilliant.
I I’ve kept half an eye out for another one but mine was perfect until it died suddenly and only cost me £2k about 5 years ago. I can’t bring myself to spend multiples of that on a less nice one now 
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Regarding the stereo, I just used noise-cancelling earbuds bluetoothed to my phone (as I do in my Elise and Exige as well)
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Superb pictures and memories right up to the last image 
sold my phase 1 172 couple months ago. i fitted PBS prorace pads and they were great, so much so i bought a full set for my mx5 track car and have since got them to make the rears to match the fronts for the elise/exige. Ive got a set on my duratec elise but yet to try them in anger. I had grams lowering springs on the car and it was great did a few track days in it too and they went well. just watch out the for aux belt tensioner mine went and would clatter when turning full lock. it was a pig of a job to change
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